might be worth mentioning, BMO WorldElite with 20K sign up bonus for new bmo rewards customers until Jan 31 2013: bmo.com

Interesting... That's $380 minus $150 in free travel.

+ 4 lounge visits for free, not bad at all

Yeah, I signed up for this because I have a really old BMO Airmiles card and the upgrade only cost me $100 (pro-rated) and I am able to get about $400 worth out of it.

Word of warning though - the website to redeem really, really sux badly. A lot of the stuff you want to book isn't even bookable online (you need to call) or is non-refundable. I'd say it's worth it for the sign-up, but then cancel. It's not worth the annual fee.

I generally stay away from cards like this, but I will do it until my anniversary date of my card and then switch back to a no-fee card.

[Consolidated] Which Canadian credit card should I get?
 

Doing the same thing. Paying my 109.xx prorated fee an then probably switch to a free card and use my Amex gold afterwards.

I Have an RBC Avion card and want to churn
Looking to cancel the card and then reapply in a year or so.
I've read here that on occasion you can convert Avion miles to AA and then BA
with some sort of bonus?
If the bonus is not available, what do you suggest I do with my miles/points before I dump them?
Thanks
Jigger

Move to Esso Extra and move back once you've churned.

Can you please give me more details on the Esso Extra card and how to move Avion miles to AA and then BA?
Thanks
Jigger

Read this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...0-9-ratio.html

Is Esso Extra really a reliable place to transfer/store/hold/hoard your points? Their website is shoddy, customer service lacking (that is, if you can get any) and their so-called bonuses always seem to get f*cked up somehow (I've had to call on a few separate occasions and each time I wanted to pull my fricken hair out!). I have collected points myself (through use of PayPass, but currently have them going straight to Aeroplan, since the EE points are useless to me). Maybe I've just had some bad luck?

You've just had bad luck. I've moved hundreds of thousands of points through Esso and had no issues. They don't show account activity detail, so make sure you keep track of point balances yourself.

The fact that they do not show account activity detail is another reason why it's a little scary to move points over! :eek:

I haven't had any issues in Esso points conversions. Both to and from RBC rewards. The lack of activity detail isn't ideal but I make note of reference numbers when the conversions happen.

I don't think my post will be more than slightly OT but since we are speaking about Canadian cards...

I'm possibly the last person to have CIBC AeroClassic. Due to my modest income as a purser on a cruise ship, I had no intention to change that until I read here about the promotion waiving the annual fee. Not that CIBC had never contacted me to offer an upgrade since they lowered the minimum income but 120$ is too much for a credit card in my case and I simply don't have enough money to spend to make the rewards worth it, therefore once I will have earned one trip with my Aeroplan (I have about 60K if I count the 15K that are coming), I may as well change credit cards for a free one from RBC (where I do cross-border banking; including US-issued Platinum Visa CC) and save 48$ on my banking fees for the year (total saving 77$, as Aeroclassic costs 29$ a year). I do receive letters from RBC offering me a pre-approved RBC Gold Rewards once in a while.

I didn't think it would end up that way with the limits but, as of today, I have both Aeroclassic and Aerogold with 6500$ limit each. I had presumed they would ask me to close the basic one or something, I never thought they would approve me for so much CC limits and, well, I don't think I need that much either - Sorry for being old school but one credit card per country is enough for me and I have a Canadian dollar credit line with RBC should need arise, I never carry a CC balance at 19.5% interest!

I'm considering leaving the Aeroclassic in my drawer for the next 12 months, then use it again after I've cancelled Aerogold. This could be especially practical in the event where I have not been abroad with my miles in 2013.

But I'd like to read some input on whether I should do this or if there would be some advantages (history, etc.) at closing the Aeroclassic account now.

Most importantly! Do not close your old CIBC account. This will be a major prop in your credit score. Credit ratings look at the average age of your credit facilities so you will be shooting yourself in the foot if you take a longstanding good credit relationship off your reporting. Your best bet is to ask CIBC to convert this to their bottom of the range zero fee product, if ever you want to change it back there will be no problem.

However, as I think you may guess from the fact you say "I'm possibly the last person to have CIBC AeroClassic", it is a very weak product. I cannot believe they associate an annual fee to the card. Aeroplan value tops off at around 3c per mile, and even then you have to be pretty wise and selective. Many people use 60k miles for a trip to Europe - often with an inconvenient routing per availabilities - and pay $500 in taxes/charges for an itinerary that would have cost them $1100. That means they are saving $600 for 60k miles, 1c per mile value and as Aeroclassic earns 1 mile per $2, your return on credit car spend is 0.5%. There are some great deals. I can go on a mini round the world in business class stopping in Europe and Asia for 125,000 miles if I am flexible on dates and carriers, and I can even minimize charges to around $250 by selecting carriers wisely. Although the ticket would cost likely north of $7k to but, I have to assess my miles at a cap of 3c value because there is no way I am in a position to pay more than $4k in revenue for that ticket, and that is the highest I have ever paid out of my pocket for a business class fare. Yet even at 3c value per mile, earning 1 mile/$2 - your return on Aeroclassic is 1.5% on spend.

You can get a fee free card from Cap1 with 1.5% return on all spending. You then would be able to freely choose your own flights per all availabilities on all airlines, and likely even earn more miles on the flight you end up taking.

Now you do have an AP balance you are looking forward to using. A couple of tips to make sure you maximize your miles. If you can keep them until you have enough for a business class reward, it is well worthwhile a little patience given the added comfort and experience, and most people only have the chance to experience premium cabins through redemptions - that is why I love using miles to allow my family to travel in business. Make sure you redeem on fuel surcharge free airlines - Swiss, SAS, United, US Airways, South African, Singapore Airlines etc. This will save you hundreds of dollars. If you need tips on finding availabilities, given that AP will often guide you towards AC and other fuel surcharging airlines and you have to tell them the flights you want, let me know. Worst case scenario, some Asian airlines are very high quality with reasonable surcharges (ANA and Asiana).

Also, know that if you use a reward going intercontinental, then you can make 2 stops in addition to destination. So a trip to Thailand can have stops in Hong Kong and Japan, for example.

If you want to get your Aeroplan balance up quickly to make a redemption, the fastest way to earn miles is with Amex Gold. Fee free first year, 20,000 bonus for opening, and 2 miles per $ for all supermarket, pharmacy and travel related spend. This is the best way to accumulate miles cheaply, better than the CIBC product.

Annual fees may seem pesky but in many cases they are worthwhile for all of the added benefits such as travel insurance, extended warranties, car rental insurance etc. However if ultimately you want to rely on one card, after your big trip I would veer away from Aeroclassic and lean towards a cash back style card. (and no you are not the only one, I have a friend very loyal to that card and even refused to get an Aerogold when they were fee free, credit wise is good, but i you stick in the parameters, you can get a world of benefits from having a couple of cards you change each year as well as an old one to keep the average of credit accounts up - but it is a personal choice at the end of the day of streamlining v. rewards).